Gifted Nessmuk type handle project.

[Retired Member southey]

I'm so excited, This is the first time i've put a handle on a knife. The blade in question, is a Nessmuk style full tang blade in 01 made by FGYT and given to me by Bazzworx via the gift it on thread(many thanks chap).

The decisions i've made so far are.

Scale's: Lace wood

liners: black fibre 1mm

pins: 6mm brass pins and lanyard tube.

now the choices I havent quite made.

which pins to use, i'm thinking the two forward 6mm holes for pins and lanyard inthe rear.which would be the bottom right.

very undecide on the profile.I'm leaning towards the second from the left, I would like it to fill my hand, be comfy when choked, and be able to securely hold it by the end swell if wanted. what are your thought so far. i'll post more as I progress. Cheers.

 

[British Red]

Looks great. I love my Nessie and, although it has a simple antler roll handle, its secure in all grips (probably because of the rough nature of the antler).

For me on the pins, I'd skip the lanyard hole unless you plan to use it.

Red

 

[Shinken]

id personally not go for anything to clever just scales with rounded edges and id be really careful not to make the scales too fat.

They look to fat in your drawings even for someone with big hands and is the most common mistake made and one i made myself in the early days.

Keep it somple and clean and everything will be great

 

[Shinken]

Here is an example on one i made

 

[Shinken]

Another showing thickness of scales

 

[FGYT]

id personally not go for anything to clever just scales with rounded edges and id be really careful not to make the scales too fat.

They look to fat in your drawings even for someone with big hands and is the most common mistake made and one i made myself in the early days.

Keep it somple and clean and everything will be great

bare in mind this is a 3/4 scale job and although the blade is still as long as a Woody 113mm full size its a 3 finger handle 81mm
(see my DSP carbon fibre knife thread its the same size handle as that )


ATB

Duncan

 

[Shinken]

see my DSP carbon fibre knife thread its the same size handle as that

Ah even more reason not to have a too fat handle!

 

[Retired Member southey]

Yup I get what your saying about the thickness. and the lanyard,I was kind of in between on that. i'm now thinking front and rear holes with nickle/silver pins. I think that will look good with the lace wood as its a quite light sample. I do like the simple shape of that Shinken.

Cheers for the comments guys i'll have a rethink and put another drawing.

It's killing me waiting for things to arrive, but it's a good lesson in patience.i'll have to have a lot of water breaks when I start so as not to rush.

 

[Ph34r]

It's good to see someone plaaning with as much consideration as myself. What i did was to find some pine, which i carved into the most ergonomic handle for me (but allow some variation for growth, and grip etc.) and when I had finished playing around, i was able to reproduce the style onto my scales.

 

[Retired Member southey]

The story so far, all kit laid out minus pins which should arrive tomorrow.

decided to have the end grain moving towards the bottom of the handle.

marked up, liners positioned.

pilferd/ borrowed work epoxy

now, I don't have a vise and my molegrip wern't big enough so I used three whet stones, pestle and morter and 2x2kg weights.

starting to shape the bit nearest the blade.

lovely grain

check out the kitchen, luckly Wifey is thousands of miles away

once pins arrive and i've finished shapeing the front of the scales its onto the next glueing, I have found this quite hard without some of the right tools but it has been fun so far. i'll keep you posted.

Southey.

 

[Retired Member southey]

I also have to admit to using the blade every night so far, chopping veg and meat for tea's, Its such a choppy knife.I almost feel a bit sad when wraping the blade up each time i need to check fitting.

 

[Bazzworx]

Looking good! Nice to see you've put so much thought and effort into the knife. Much better than I would have done.

I look forward to seeing the finished piece.


p.s kitchen/workshop's a great idea i built an engine in mine once before I got my workshop. No need to trek it back to the house for brews etc..

 

[Retired Member southey]

Oh yes all though I don't think it'll last long once Wifey comes back, few months of Man house is allways good for the soul!

 

[British Red]

That's looking really good Southey - I agree on the handiness of the design - it really does "like to be used"

Red

 

[Retired Member southey]

Progress so far(it's pretty slow) some tools arrived today, files and stuff. so went back to work, I have a new found respect for you makers, I'd forgotten how hard it is to shape hardwood by hand, man i want a belt sander!.

will work more on the profile, hope to crack that tonight, before getting to the shape.

 

[Retired Member southey]

Finished! mistakes: drilling the scales without the blade inplace, calm down when fileing as i knicked the metal of the handle. having the right tools makes a big difference, I had hoped to use a little orbital sander but it popped the first time i used it.

a little bit to the side.

Where next?

thanks for looking, all criticism welcome, i'm here to learn!

Southey.

 

[Bazzworx]

That looks really nice, I like the pattern of the wood.

I didn't realise it was finished, I was away for a week so missed a few threads.

So are you going to try your hand at leather work now to make a sheath?

All the best
Ben

 

[Retired Member southey]

Cheers Ben< i had ment to pm you a picci, Thank you for giving me the blade, you have started me on a new lerning path, my Wife will not be pleased. Yeah i'm going have a go making the sheath for this as i want to give to my wife when she comes back from the Falklands in a couple of months, again thanks chap.